Indianapolis – Three audio brands by the end of the year will offer a
powered soundbar that uses H-PAS
bass-extension technology to deliver bass down to 47Hz at -3dB without the use
of a separate subwoofer.
The
three companies are Atlantic Technology, H-PAS inventor
, and direct-to-consumer
audio supplier Outlaw Audio, said Atlantic president Peter Tribemen at the
CEDIA Expo. Tribeman also operates Outlaw Audio.
H-PAS, which stands for Hybrid Pressure
Acceleration System, is promoted as
delivering targeted bass performance with 50 percent smaller cabinets,
smaller drivers and lower costs. In a soundbar, it would eliminate the need for
a separate subwoofer, making it appealing to more households and suitable for
use in secondary rooms in a home, Tribeman said.
Besides improving the sound
quality of flat-panel TVs, the system performs strong enough to serve as a
music-playback system, including playback of music streaming services accessed
by smart TVs, he said.
In revealing more details about
Atlantic’s planned soundbar, Tribeman said he expects to price Atlantic’s model
between $500 and $600, depending on currency fluctuations. The two-channel
system, rated at 2×40 watts, features Trident technology to deliver virtual
surround sound from two-channel Dolby Digital and PCM sources and 5.1-channel
Dolby Digital sources. The soundbar also includes Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder.
The driver complement consists of
two 4-inch drivers and two 0.5-inch tweeters.
The wall- and table-mount speaker
features one optical digital input, two RCA analog inputs, and a front minijack
input. The company might add a second digital input, Tribeman said. A subwoofer
output is included if someone wants to further deepen bass response.
The soundbar comes with an IR
remote whose codes can be learned by learning remotes.
Atlantic is licensing the
technology to other, combines elements of
bass-reflex, inverse-horn, and transmission-line speaker technologies to
pressurize and accelerate low frequencies. H-PAS is promoted as breaking what
the companies have called “the iron law of loudspeaker design,” which
law states that among three key goals of speaker design — deep bass, compact
enclosures and good efficiency — two must be selected at the expense of the
third.
